Phones
Google plans to take Samsung head-on with its foldable phone
A couple of months ago, Google showcased its upcoming Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones. These flagship phones appeared to be good enough to compete with Samsung’s high-end phones, such as Galaxy S22. But Google seems not to stop here, as it plans to bring its first foldable phone against Samsung foldable.
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Recently, a famous Weibo tipster named DigitalChatStation said that alongside the Pixel flagship, Google is also working on its first foldable smartphone. He further claims that Foxconn, the famous contract manufacturing firm, has already started the mass production of this product.
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This Google foldable phone could be called Pixel Fold or the Pixel Notepad and notably, it was seen in the Google Camera app via a hidden code earlier.
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Furthermore, the upcoming device looks more similar to OPPO Find N than Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. It sports a 5.85-inch cover display and the same set of cameras found on the Google Pixel 5 which are 12.2MP and 16MP.
Another Pixel phone that the tipster is talking about is the Pixel 7 Ultra, which will be an upgraded version of the forthcoming Pixel 7 Pro. He claims that this device will feature a 2K display and a ceramic body along with a Sony IMX787 camera sensor and a 50MP ISOCELL GN1 periscope sensor.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s new foldable are coming next week:
Samsung is all set to launch two new foldable smartphones including the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 at the Galaxy Unpacked event next week. Both these phones are reportedly heavily modified from their predecessors in some aspects, such as Camera and Display.
Can Google Fold compete with Samsung foldables? Well, nothing can be said at this time. Galaxy foldables have been highly improved over the year, at the same time, the addition of One UI 4.1.1 (Android 12L) will work more effectively as it has some extra features that are specially customized for foldables.
Samsung is unlikely to use Exynos 2500 in the Galaxy S25 series. Qualcomm has increased the prices of the Snapdragon 8 Elite due to upgrades. However, MediaTek could help Samsung keep on evolving flagships as Snapdragon price soars.
Recently, it was reported that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 could be pricier than the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Samsung Foundry is in trouble and there’s no hope for Exynos 2600 to be used in 2026’s Galaxy S26 flagship smartphones.
Chipset price makes a great impact on smartphone pricing. Samsung managed to freeze pricing by utilizing Exynos in previous flagships. However, the game has changed as consumers don’t want Exynos and Snapdragon continues to be pricier.
Korean media (via Jukanlosreve) believes that MediaTek could help Samsung flagships keep on evolving further amid pricier Snapdragon. If Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is to be exclusively used in the S26 series, we may not see any display and camera upgrades.
Chinese phone makers aggressively utilize the Dimensity chips, that decently rival the latest Snapdragon chipset. Exynos is uncertain but MediaTek is doing a pretty good job with its flagship Dimensity chips.
In the case of no Exynos, opting for Dimensity in the Galaxy S series is a better alternative. MediaTek’s prices are way too lesser than Qualcomm’s. Meanwhile, flagship Dimensity chips offer better performance than Samsung’s Exynos.
Samsung skipped upgrading the display and zoom camera on the S25 Ultra, as far as the rumors are concerned. It could be forced to replace the same pursuit on the Galaxy S26 series otherwise, the price freeze would be unavoidable.
Global Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra surfaced on the FCC database. Earlier, we’ve seen the appearance of the US variants of the S25 series. The listing reveals the model number, connectivity specs, and some more info.
FCC listed Global Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra as model numbers SM-S931B, SM-S936B, and SM-S938B, respectively. The variants will be launched outside the US such as Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The input solidifies that the vanilla S25 won’t feature UWB tech. The fast and secure connectivity feature will be limited to the Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 Ultra. The US variants listing revealed the UWB configuration on the upcoming flagships.
Supporting documents suggest that the S25 and S25+ were tested with the EP-TA800 charging adaptor and EP-DN980 cable. Support for Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n/a/ac/ax/be), GNSS, DP, and NFC are also mentioned.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is also listed with S Pen support. It will be the only model in the lineup that will be supporting stylus input. As far as the charging speed is concerned, the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra will bring 45W fast charging support.
The flagship will also feature Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n/a/ac/ax/be), GNSS, UWB, DP, and NFC connectivity. The supported 5G bands include n1/2/3/5/7/8/12/20/25/26/28/38/40/41/66/77/78.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Release Date
Samsung hasn’t yet officially announced the release date for the Galaxy S25 series. South Korea is currently facing political tension as the President has recently imposed Martial Law (Emergency) and lifted it shortly after.
Korean media previously reported that the Galaxy Unpacked may be held in late January next year. If things continue to go as planned, we can expect the S25 series to be unveiled on January 22, while release could happen in early February.
Samsung has just tested Exynos 2500 chipset on the Galaxy S25 Plus. Samsung’s unannounced SM-S936B was spotted on Geekbench 6. However, the retail model could be equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite globally.
As spotted by Jukanlosreve, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus running Exynos 2500 scored up to 2358 and 8211 points in single-core and multi-core tests. The model number refers to the European variant of the Galaxy S25 Plus smartphone.
In early November, the chipset was spotted on the same handset with similar Geekbench scores. That time, the Exynos 2500 reached 2,359 points and 8,141 points in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core CPU tests.
The current Exynos 2500 benchmark scores are far from its rivals. The Snapdragon 8 Elite manages to reach up to 3127 and 9509, while Dimensity 9400 reaches 2711 and 8632 points in single and multi-core tests, respectively.
It is said that the Exynos 2500 may not power the Galaxy S25 series. The Korean tech giant has reportedly commenced mass production. The next year’s Galaxy Z Flip 7 could be equipped with a 3nm-based Exynos 2500 processor.
Geekbench reveals that the Exynos 2500 features a 10-core CPU, with the prime CPU core clocked at 3.3GHz, two high-performance cores at 2.75GHz, and three at 2.36GHz. The platform has two power-efficient CPU cores, running at 1.8GHz.
Samsung’s in-house chip is speculated to get Xclipse 950 GPU based on AMD’s RDNA architecture. It could also be supported by Vulkan 1.3, additional dynamic state, device profiles, dynamic rendering, and improved sync API.
The Foundry division is currently facing yield issues with the 3nm process. Industry observers estimate that the yield rate is extremely low (around 20%). Given the yield concerns, Exynos 2500 is unlikely in the Galaxy S25 series next year.